Peru defeats Venezuela's 'backward looking model'

Peruvians rejected Venezuelan interference in their electoral process, routing an extremist candidate openly backed by the Caracas regime.

"Today, Peru has sent a message of national sovereignty and has defeated efforts by Hugo Chavez to incorporate us in the expansion strategy of his military and backward-looking model, which he's tried to implant in Latin America," the apparent president-elect, Alan Garcia, said after exit polls showed him winning. (Reuters)

Garcia, who had been president before, is a democratic leftist whose legacy of economic failure and corruption made him an unlikely victor against Venezuelan-backed radical Ollanta Humala.

Peru nearly severed diplomatic relations with Caracas earlier this year after accusing the Chavez regime of sponsoring political subversion on behalf of Humala.